Four grown kids, five delightful grandchildren, constant, long-time partner. A retired academic, I'm adapting to life in a Vancouver condo after decades in a waterfront home on a very small (Canadian) West Coast island. Keen to discover what new priorities emerge, what interests persist, in this urban life after 60!

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Tuesday, June 4, 2013

A Sunny Sunday in Barcelona

We are too busy walking the crowded streets of Barcelona and ogling its stunning architecture and sitting in its terraces eating tiny fried fish and drinking cava to be able to write much. As well, we are fielding emotions around some ugly family fallout over Paul's decision to continue our holiday plans, despite his father's death. I will say no more about that except that we are immersing ourselves in beautiful distraction. Here, I will show you what I mean. . .

This is the kind of thing you will see for free, walking the streets of Barcelona. Amazing, si?!

I am a huge fan of the broad leafy avenues that Mediterranean cities do so well . . .

And how beautifully and crazily ornate are these bench-lamp standard combos?

Plus my guy looks pretty dapper there too, doesn't he?

The eye is drawn in every direction, but one must look up, always. . .

Especially because this is a city that can really do rovoes well. . .

But one should look down as well, to the beautifully decorated sidewalks, on which the shadows also trace a mysterious intricacy

Catalan people are obviously proud of their city and their culture, and flags are everywhere . .

Oh, I brought along a few friends. . . I think some of them cheated and took the bus or subway, though. Pater and I hiked up from the city in the hot sun. All worth it, though, because I got to bring you all these photographs. which, by the way, I took with my iPad mini, having forgotten to put the memory card back in my regular camera. So I was one of those goofy people I used to mock, holding up my unwieldy ipad to take snapshots. And it worked, so I may continue to be such a goofy being. We'll see . .

Better than having to climb back up with my "real" camera to capture this gorgeous view.

Or this pretty little house that Gaudi lived in. . .

Or these monumental and fantastic shapes and structures he designed as part of the landscaping.

Or these beautiful swathes of vegetation, rolling down the hillside . .

Or the fantastical and whimsical and organic house he built. Has there ever been a Guardhouse that looked less guard-like?

We only have two more days here, so we're trying to narrow down a list of musts. There's a whole Picasso museum and there's the Joan Miro museum and we haven't seen the Sagrada Familia yet or the Guell Palace. . . So really, I'd better get to it. thanks for all your lovely comments. . . .

23 comments:

Barcelona is an amazing feast for the eyes. The architecture is like no other that I have seen. Gaudi must have been a very unusual man as his architecture is dream-like. Several years ago, I spent a few weeks in Catalonia and I found the Catalan culture and people fascinating. If you are unable to see both museums and you have seen Picasso in Paris, you must see Joan Miro. Enjoy your time together and all the rest will disappear soon enough.

Lovely photos -- didn't you want to move right into Gaudi's little house?

A hint for seeing La Sagrada Familia, if you haven't already braved the line -- you can buy the tickets ahead of time, online (and be sure to splurge on the audioguide) and then pick them up at a "La Caixa" ATM with ticket collection. (There's information on the website about how to find a machine that will let you pick up the tickets.) We did this last summer and saved about three hours on line!

Just had to pop in here to relay my Wee Guy's (10y old, european traveler of some experience) comment on peering over my shoulder to look at the pics - "Wow! Wow! Looks like lego - when can we go there?"

The Moorish influence, absolutely, although I feel as if we saw that more in Lisbon, somehow -- perhaps just because there was so much more tilework there. . . And yes, the family stuff has been a bit vile, and surprising. Paul is just so obviously a good man that it's hard not to see that being acknowledged. . . long story. better hush now. . .

I'd love to hear your response to my post. Agree, disagree, even go off on a tangent, I love to know you're out there, readers. Let's chat, shall we? I apologize, though, for the temporary necessity of the Word Verification -- spam comments have been tiresomely numerous lately, and I'm hoping to break that pattern.

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Wisdom to live by and Other Clever Quotations

Events are not changeable at their climax, not through virtue and resolve, but only in their strictly ordinary, habitual course through reason and practice.Walter Benjamin, "The Author as Producer," Address delivered at the Institute for the Study of Fascism, Paris, on 27 April 1934

Coherence is born of random abundance. Kim Stafford in The Muses Among UsThe world is so full of a number of thingsI'm sure we should all be as happy as kings.Robert Louis Stevenson, A Child's Garden of Verses

Bourgeois heroism: the acrobatics of being in so many places practically at once, and doing so many amazing things in one day, and then conversing over dinner with unflagging energy.

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